Rule 77-1. Petition for Review Seeking Expedited Review of an Order concerning Court Closure, or an Order That Seals or Limits the Disclosure of Files, Affidavits, Documents or Other Material

(a) Except as provided in subsection (d), any person affected by a court order which prohibits the public or any person from attending any session of court, or any order that seals or limits the disclosure of files, affidavits, documents or other material on file with the court or filed in connection with a court proceeding, may seek review of such order by filing a petition for review with the Appellate Court within seventy-two hours after the issuance of the order.

(b) The petition shall set forth in separate paragraphs appropriately captioned: (1) a brief history of the case, (2) the specific facts upon which the petitioning party relies and (3) the legal grounds upon which the petitioning party relies. An appendix containing the information or complaint, the answer, all motions pertaining to the matter, the opinion or orders of the trial court sought to be reviewed, a list of all parties with the names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, and, if applicable, the juris number of their counsel, the names of all judges who participated in the case, and an expedited transcript order confirmation, shall be filed with the petition for review. Any opposition to the petition shall be filed within ninety-six hours after the filing of the petition and shall set forth in separate paragraphs appropriately captioned: (1) the specific facts upon which the opposing party relies, and (2) the legal grounds upon which the opposing party relies. Except as otherwise ordered, petitions and oppositions shall not exceed 3500 words. The word count is exclusive of the case caption, signature block of counsel of record, certifications, and appendix, if any. Petitions and oppositions, including footnotes, shall be typed in a 12 point serif font. Section captions shall be typed in a 14 point serif font. A list of serif fonts can be found in the guidelines published on the Judicial Branch website. Margins shall be 1 and 1/2 inches on all sides. All text must be left aligned. Line spacing can be between 1.3x and 1.5x and must be uniform throughout, including the body of the document, footnotes and block quotes. Bold face or italic emphasis tools shall be used, not underlining. Responses to oppositions are not permitted. Petitions and oppositions shall each be filed as one document with a single pagination scheme that starts on the first page of the petition or opposition and continues throughout the entire document, on every page, including the pages in an attached appendix. The page numbers shall be centered on the bottom of the page and shall be written as ''Page X of XX'' (e.g., Page 1 of 33 . . . Page 7 of 33 . . . Page 33 of 33). All papers shall contain a certification that: (1) a copy has been delivered to each other counsel of record in accordance with the provisions of Section 62-7, and (2) that the petition or opposition complies with the word count requirement of this subsection.

(c) Any person filing a petition for review pursuant to this rule shall deliver a copy of the petition and appendix to (1) all parties to the case and (2) any nonparty who sought the closure order or order sealing or limiting disclosure in compliance with the provisions of Section 62-7 on the same day as the petition is filed. Within one business day of the receipt of the transcript and the certificate of completion provided for by Section 63-8

(c) , the person filing the petition for review shall file the transcript and the certificate of completion with the Appellate Court. The filing of any petition for review of a court order which prohibits the public or any person from attending any session of court shall stay the order until the final determination of the review. The filing of any petition for review of an order that seals or limits the disclosure of files, affidavits, documents or other material on file with the court shall not stay the order during the review. After the receipt of the transcript and the response to the petition, if any, the Appellate Court shall hold an expedited hearing on any petition for review. The appellate clerk will notify the petitioner, the parties and any nonparties who sought the closure order or order sealing or limiting disclosure of files, affidavits, documents or other material on file with the court or filed in connection with a court proceeding of the date and time of the hearing. Failure to file a response shall not preclude the party or nonparty who sought the order under review from participating in the hearing on the petition. After such hearing the Appellate Court may affirm, modify or vacate the order reviewed.

(d) This section shall not apply to court orders concerning any session of court conducted pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-11, § 46b-49, § 46b-122, § 54-76h or any other provision of the General Statutes under which the court is authorized to close proceedings. This section also shall not apply to any order issued pursuant to General Statutes § 46b-11 or § 54-33c or any other provision of the General Statutes under which the court is authorized to seal or limit the disclosure of files, affidavits, documents or materials and any order issued pursuant to a court rule that seals or limits the disclosure of any affidavit in support of an arrest warrant.

Committee Notes

(Amended July 21, 1999, to take effect Jan. 1, 2000; amended Oct. 24, 2018, to take effect Jan. 1, 2019.) (P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. 4166.) (Amended July 21, 1999, and December 13, 1999, to take effect Jan. 1, 2000; amended Sept. 16, 2015, to take effect Jan. 1, 2016; amended Oct. 24, 2018, to take effect Jan. 1, 2019; amended July 23, 2019, to take effect Jan. 1, 2020; amended June 15, 2021, to take effect Oct. 1, 2021; amended June 27, 2023, to take effect Jan. 1, 2024; amended July 23, 2024, to take effect Jan. 1, 2025; amended July 15, 2025, to take effect Jan. 1, 2026.) HISTORY—2026: What are now the third and fourth para- graphs of subsection (b) were added. COMMENTARY—2026: The purpose of these amend- ments is to make the formatting rules for briefs, motions, peti- tions and oppositions consistent such that all of them are filed, with any attachments, as one document with a single pagination scheme, and to add a word count certification requirement.